Why Tyler Mizzell Could Be The Next Quarterback For Ball State Football

One of Ball State football's first orders of business in the transfer portal was to add a quarterback.

In fact, it was such a priority that the Cardinals landed a QB commitment on the last day of their 2025 regular season.

Tyler Mizzell committed to Ball State on Nov. 29 — the same day as the Cardinals' season finale at Miami (Ohio). As a Division II transfer from Concord University, he was able to enter the transfer portal as soon as his season was over and start exploring his options (the NCAA has since adopted a two-week window for future D-II transfers). Ball State quickly emerged as one of those options.

"I got to go on my official visit, and they offered me pretty early in the process," Mizzell said. "Coming out here, seeing the facilities, I already had a relationship with the coaches, and I kind of knew what I wanted. I wanted to find a home, and when I came here, it felt like home. It was that Thanksgiving weekend, I was at my grandmother's house, and I told my grandmother, 'I think that's the spot.'"

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Mizzell had a relationship with the coaching staff already because it actually was not his first time being recruited by Ball State. The Cardinals had also gone after him during the 2025 portal cycle when he transferred from Wake Forest, but Mizzell ultimately opted for the D-II level for a better chance to start.

The second time around, the Cardinals landed their guy.

"The great thing about him is we had recruited him some the year before," Ball State coach Mike Uremovich said. "We knew him and his family really well, knew he was a great kid and super successful in high school. I was familiar with his high school because I used to recruit that area when I was at NC State, and he was a state championship player there."

The redshirt junior is now vying for the Cardinals' starting quarterback job along with Texas State transfer Keldric Luster. A native of Denver, North Carolina, Mizzell led East Lincoln High School to an NCHSAA state championship as a senior. He began his college career at Wake Forest with a redshirt season in 2023 and only made one appearance in 2024 before making his way to Concord.

Feeling slighted by the Demon Deacons for not giving him a real shot, Mizzell went to the D-II level with the goal of proving himself as a D-I caliber player.

"That was always the goal — I was going to go D-II for a year, ball out, and go back up," Mizzell said. "I'm grateful that happened. I do kind of feel like I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, especially because of how things ended at Wake Forest. I felt like I was kind of counted out."

Mizzell did, in fact, "ball out" at Concord. He finished his season there with 2,889 yards and 26 touchdowns through the air and was the team's second-leading rusher with 377 yards on the ground, earning second-team all-conference honors from the Mountain East Conference in the process.

With a strong season as a starting QB now under his belt, Mizzell went back to the portal and found himself being recruited by Uremovich once again — but he wasn't the only Concord Mountain Lion that the Cardinals had interest in.

Jacob Jeudy is a redshirt senior offensive lineman who was also a second-team all-MEC selection at offensive tackle last season. He and Mizzell took their official visits together, committed on the same day and are now roommates in Muncie. As Mizzell competes for the starting quarterback job, Jeudy will look to earn a spot as a starting guard.

"We talked before either of us committed here," Mizzell said. "We really enjoyed it, and I think that kind of affected both of our decisions, knowing that we could both come here and still be teammates. I still live with Jacob Jeudy, great guy. He's a really good player, and I'm excited for him."

Throughout spring and fall camp, Uremovich has been impressed by Mizzell's vocal leadership skills, his presence within the pocket and ability to make plays outside the pocket. He is an accurate deep-ball passer and outside the numbers, and he has underrated athleticism as a runner when he is forced to scramble.

Mizzell is also willing to embrace a descriptor that many quarterbacks shy away from or even take offense to.

"Everybody hates 'game manager,' but I see that like I put us in a position to win football games," Mizzell said. "I can go make a play when I need to, but it's honestly just doing my job. I think I do my job at a very high level, and that gives us opportunities to win football games."

Time will tell if Mizzell will beat out Luster for the starting gig. No matter who ends up with the job, the competition throughout the offseason has made both players better.

"They're both playing really well, which is a good thing," Uremovich said. "We'd rather have that and make it hard on us to make a decision."

Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Why Tyler Mizzell could be the next quarterback for Ball State football